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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 5, Winter 1944-1945
Page 99
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 99 Thumbing the Munsey Files (Author's note: The purpose of this column is simple. It will attempt to point out the chief sources of fantasy---the Munsey magazines---and their offerings to the readers of ten, twenty, thirty, and forty years ago. An attempt will be made to describe each story briefly and to evaluate it as well, either by the way in which the review is written or some definite critical statement. ---William H. Evans) The first month of 1905 saw the debut of a new member of the Munsey family, one that was destined to parade some of the greatest names in the fantasy fiction field between its covers. All-Story opened its career in fantasy fiction by publishing both a short story and a five-part serial. The latter begins with a business man in his office suddenly feeling faint; recovering, he finds it to be a year later! Complications develop as it is discovered that in the intervening year he has acquired a wife. The remainder of W. Bert Foster's "When Time Slipped a Cog" deals with further complications along similar lines; it finally turns out in the end to be an amnesia case---but the writing style more than makes up for this mundane ending. January also has an amusing little fantasy by Margaret P. Montague---"The Great Sleep Tanks"---telling of a day in the future when the essence of sleep has been monopolized and stored in great tanks, scattered throughout the country, to be rented to people at night. The hero, in love with the daughter of the man who has the monopoly, finally releases the sleep and smashes the apparatus. March of 1905 brought C. Whittier Tate's "Harmony of Death," a short tale based on the theory that a chord of music can kill; just average, no more. Argosy, a monthly at this time, was featuring William Wallace Cook's "Adrift in the Unknown," a serial that had begun in December of 1904. In this, one Professor Quinn kid-naps four millionaires into his house---in reality a space-ship---and starts for Venus. En route, one of the passengers goes insane, and so shifts the controls that the ship is forced to land on Mercury. There the party finds the usual two nations at war, and is forced to take sides. The expected series of adventures ensues, with the Earthmen prisoners at the end of the March installment. Also in the January number was a minor short, "The Heppswell Smoke Controller" by George Carling, which tells how a swindled inventor secures revenge by controlling the smoke in the chimney of an industrial plant so as to prevent the latter's operation. February 1905 saw "Dr. Appleton's Discovery," by Bertram Lebhar, wherein a doctor discovers how to reanimate the dead. By 1915 All-Story had become a weekly and absorbed The Cavalier. January 23 brought the first installment of a four-part Burroughs sequel to "The Eternal Lover." "Sweetheart Primeval" opens when Victoria Custer wakes up and finds herself in the Stone Age. From here on the usual Burroughs adventures are encountered, with never a dull moment. It was rather good, too---and certainly a lot better than many of the later Tarzan yarns. February 6 introduced "Judith of Babylon" by P. P. Sheehan, a four-part serial which was distinctly a "different" story. It tells how one Gush, with his twisted mind and lame leg, has decided to make New York the second Babylon, with himself as high priest. He introduces free movies of an especially opulent sort, lavish entertainments---and by these and other means finally secures control. But he is finally downed through Judith, a girl whom he loves. The first of four stories by Sax Rohmer, featuring Morris Klaw, appeared in the February 13 issue. "The Tragedies in the Greek Room" tells how the "dream detective"---who sleeps at the scene of a crime to absorb impressions left there---solves a series of murders. The second of these tales, "The Potsherd of Anubis," appeared two weeks later, "The Ivory Statue" on March 13, and "The Blue Rajah," last of the set, on March 27. All are similar, and not up to the standard set by Rohmer's later---and better---work.
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 99 Thumbing the Munsey Files (Author's note: The purpose of this column is simple. It will attempt to point out the chief sources of fantasy---the Munsey magazines---and their offerings to the readers of ten, twenty, thirty, and forty years ago. An attempt will be made to describe each story briefly and to evaluate it as well, either by the way in which the review is written or some definite critical statement. ---William H. Evans) The first month of 1905 saw the debut of a new member of the Munsey family, one that was destined to parade some of the greatest names in the fantasy fiction field between its covers. All-Story opened its career in fantasy fiction by publishing both a short story and a five-part serial. The latter begins with a business man in his office suddenly feeling faint; recovering, he finds it to be a year later! Complications develop as it is discovered that in the intervening year he has acquired a wife. The remainder of W. Bert Foster's "When Time Slipped a Cog" deals with further complications along similar lines; it finally turns out in the end to be an amnesia case---but the writing style more than makes up for this mundane ending. January also has an amusing little fantasy by Margaret P. Montague---"The Great Sleep Tanks"---telling of a day in the future when the essence of sleep has been monopolized and stored in great tanks, scattered throughout the country, to be rented to people at night. The hero, in love with the daughter of the man who has the monopoly, finally releases the sleep and smashes the apparatus. March of 1905 brought C. Whittier Tate's "Harmony of Death," a short tale based on the theory that a chord of music can kill; just average, no more. Argosy, a monthly at this time, was featuring William Wallace Cook's "Adrift in the Unknown," a serial that had begun in December of 1904. In this, one Professor Quinn kid-naps four millionaires into his house---in reality a space-ship---and starts for Venus. En route, one of the passengers goes insane, and so shifts the controls that the ship is forced to land on Mercury. There the party finds the usual two nations at war, and is forced to take sides. The expected series of adventures ensues, with the Earthmen prisoners at the end of the March installment. Also in the January number was a minor short, "The Heppswell Smoke Controller" by George Carling, which tells how a swindled inventor secures revenge by controlling the smoke in the chimney of an industrial plant so as to prevent the latter's operation. February 1905 saw "Dr. Appleton's Discovery," by Bertram Lebhar, wherein a doctor discovers how to reanimate the dead. By 1915 All-Story had become a weekly and absorbed The Cavalier. January 23 brought the first installment of a four-part Burroughs sequel to "The Eternal Lover." "Sweetheart Primeval" opens when Victoria Custer wakes up and finds herself in the Stone Age. From here on the usual Burroughs adventures are encountered, with never a dull moment. It was rather good, too---and certainly a lot better than many of the later Tarzan yarns. February 6 introduced "Judith of Babylon" by P. P. Sheehan, a four-part serial which was distinctly a "different" story. It tells how one Gush, with his twisted mind and lame leg, has decided to make New York the second Babylon, with himself as high priest. He introduces free movies of an especially opulent sort, lavish entertainments---and by these and other means finally secures control. But he is finally downed through Judith, a girl whom he loves. The first of four stories by Sax Rohmer, featuring Morris Klaw, appeared in the February 13 issue. "The Tragedies in the Greek Room" tells how the "dream detective"---who sleeps at the scene of a crime to absorb impressions left there---solves a series of murders. The second of these tales, "The Potsherd of Anubis," appeared two weeks later, "The Ivory Statue" on March 13, and "The Blue Rajah," last of the set, on March 27. All are similar, and not up to the standard set by Rohmer's later---and better---work.
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